The Writers Guild of Japan (WGJ) was founded by writers on March 1, 1966 as a cooperative society whose purpose was to improve the social and economic position of the writers who create scripts for television and radio broadcasts.

Since its foundation, the WGJ has worked to improve the conditions and terms writers receive for their work and the use of their scripts, through collective agreements with broadcasting organizations and production companies based on the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Cooperatives Act. In 1970 the WGJ started education activities with the aim of developing the next generation of writers, and in 1974 the WGJ was the first organization of its kind in Japan to receive recognition from the Agency for Cultural Affairs as a copyright administration organization for scripts. Since then, the WGJ has been active in copyright administration, signing trust contracts on copyright matters with writers.

Following the enforcement of the Act on Copyright Management Business in October 2001, which replaced the Intermediary Business Act, the WGJ was registered as a copyright management business and appointed as a Designated Management Organization for literary works, including scripts.
At present, the WGJ grants license and collects and distributes royalties relating to scripts for airwave and cable broadcasts, videograms such as DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, online streaming and download services, etc.
Copyright management, welfare, and education remain the core pillars of the WGJ today.

Furthermore, with the globalization of audiovisual content distribution, we rejoined the Confédération internationale dessociétés d'auteurs et compositeurs (CISAC) in 2025, following our initial membership in 1987, to further promote exchanges with foreign authors' organizations. We have signed reciprocal representation agreements relating to copyright administration with societies of authors in various countries(see list here), and continue to engage in activities to protect the rights of screenwriters from a standpoint that is firmly grounded in international standards. We are committed to protecting writers’ rights from a position that is in line with international standards.

Today the WGJ is the largest organization of its kind in Japan, composed of more than 1,600 members.

• For inquiries about the use of works or reciprocal representation agreements, please contact us fromhere.